As most of the residents living in Ripley
County are aware, the local hospital Southeast Health Ripley County will
cease operation on October 15, 2018. While this is an extremely sad day for
local citizens, we are told that there continues to be an effort by the
hospital’s Board of Directors and Missouri Highlands Health Care to
hopefully make this a temporary situation. Ripley County Ambulance District
supports all efforts to do so and we will continue to provide the best
pre-hospital care possible.

The closing of the emergency department will
cause changes in the way we operate. In the past residents that presented to
the local emergency department could be transported to other tertiary health
facilities including hospitals in Cape Girardeau, St. Louis, Jonesboro,
Memphis and Little Rock, etc. Those Hospital to Hospital Transfers will no
longer be available with the emergency department closing.

Residents utilizing the
District’s ambulances in an emergency, will now have limited choice as to
the destination they are transported. Nearest Appropriate facilities to
which the Ambulance District will transport patients in emergency situations
are Poplar Bluff Regional, Black River Medical in Poplar Bluff Missouri and
Five Rivers Medical Center in Pocahontas, Ark. We will not be able to
transport any patients to clinics or Urgent Care Centers
and have not been able to transport patients to the Urgent Care Center at
John J. Pershing VA Medical Center for the past two years.

We are also required to follow certain
treatment and transport guidelines with respect to Stroke, STEMI and Trauma
Centers. The nearest Stroke and STEMI Center is Poplar Bluff Regional
Medical Center and the nearest Trauma Center is St. Francis Medical Center
in Cape Girardeau.

When necessary and appropriate we will
continue to utilize local Air Ambulance Services. In our area, we have two
services, Air Evac Life Team based in Poplar Bluff and Survival Flight
located in Pocahontas, Ark. When needed both services, weather permitting,
can usually be here in minutes when they are not involved in other
emergencies.

In Closing, Ripley County Ambulance District
would like to thank all of the physicians, nurses and ancillary staff who
made our local hospital a great place for medical care and let them know
that the Ambulance District will continue to work hard to achieve the best
outcomes for our patients, just as they have for so many years.

As of 07/01/2018 Dr. Gregory Zolkowski, D.O. (Dr. Z) will serve as the Medical
Director of Ripley County Ambulance District. Dr. Z is a fulltime emergency
physician at S.E. Health of Ripley County, serving several years in that
capacity. Dr. Z and his family make their home in Doniphan, Mo. Previously
he worked in the Bolivar, Mo area. He received his medical degree from
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and has been practicing for over 30
years. We look forward to direction from Dr. Z and welcome him.

The District recently hired a new Paramedic, Eric Limbaugh who lives locally
and comes to RCAD with over 20 years experience in EMS. Eric is a well known
and highly respected Paramedic throughout all of Southeast Missouri having
worked for several services in the area, including Shannon County, Poplar
Bluff Ambulances Services, West Carter County Ambulance and others. We look
forward to working with Eric and know he will be a valuable member of our
team.

Timber Berry, EMT-P recently became the newest paramedic working for RCAD. She
has worked fulltime for the District since 2015, as an EMT. During the past
twelve months she attended the Paramedic Program at Three Rivers College
which consisted of hundreds of hours of classroom lecture and laboratory
experience. Additionally Timber had to perform clinical experience at area
hospitals and ambulance services. Working fulltime and going to school
fulltime, while raising her family has been very taxing. Hopefully she finds
lots of family time, while the residents of Ripley County also benefit from
Timber's increased knowledge and abilities for years to come!